mind you, i haven’t yet been able to find this u.n. report where these authors sourced the data from. so i don’t know where the u.n. got their data from. and their number for egypt 2009 — 40% — seems a tad high. a 2008 egyptian study found the rate to be more like 30%.

update 04/03: i didn’t realize before today (duh!) that consang.net actually has some data for libya. they have listed a consanguinity rate for libya @ 37.6%. that’s from a study conducted in benghazi in 1982/85.

i also happened across another health study from tripoli conducted in 1985-87 which found that 52.04% of the population were in a consanguineous marriage, although the researchers didn’t state what sorts of consanguineous marriage (first-cousin vs. second-cousin, for instance.)

so there you have it — a consanguinity rate in libya apparently ranging anywhere from 37.6% to 52.04%. i guess the 46.5% rate that the u.n. gave is not far out after all.